


baby you're no good

by dadbyul



Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Demons, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Demonic Possession, F/F, Horror Comedy, inspired by dungeons and dragons
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-02
Updated: 2019-05-25
Packaged: 2019-06-01 01:39:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 12,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15132278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dadbyul/pseuds/dadbyul
Summary: Ha Sooyoung hopes to have an uneventful sophomore year of college, but an encounter with something very strange changes her plans.





	1. I

Sooyoung dropped her clothes on the bed of her new dorm room, falling over onto it face down in exhaustion.

“Ugh. Fucking finally. Hey Jinsol, you got all your stuff?”

The tall blonde wobbled into the room, boxes in her arms, her legs quivering. “Y-yeah...I got it...I got it…WOOOAAH!”

Sooyoung begrudgingly sat up from her bed to see all of Jinsol’s belongings in a pile on the floor, the girl with a wide-eyed expression. “Do you ‘got it’ now?”

“...no.”

Sooyoung and Jinsol both gave a light chuckle, picking up some of the boxes and placing them on the desk.

Sooyoung and Jinsol had been friends since their first year of high school, and to find out that they had been assigned as roommates was practically a dream come true. Sooyoung’s freshman  roommate was an absolute slob, not to mention constantly inviting her boyfriend over for sex while Sooyoung tried to sleep. So even with Jinsol being a bit of a klutz and a scatterbrain, she was still a lot more agreeable.

“I don’t get why they made us move up two whole floors, though,” Jinsol commented, “How many of those freshman rugrats do we have running around here anyway?”

“Weren’t you one of those rugrats last year? You kept asking where the food court was for five months after we got here,” Sooyoung wisecracked.

“Hey, in my defense, we were super far away from it!”

“Well, look at the bright side,” Sooyoung said, “Now we’re right next to it.”

Jinsol chuckled to herself. “Hell yeah, it’s gonna be pizza night every night!”

“Don’t get too ahead of yourself there, ‘Solie. I think this year I might wanna lay low.”

Jinsol frowned. “Whaaaat? It’s sophmore year! We’re gonna get actually invited to parties now, and people are gonna respect us!”

Sooyoung picked up some of her papers. “Yeah, but I didn’t really get the grades I wanted to.”

“You got two Bs and three Cs! It’s better than what I got…”

“I dunno...I think I let myself go too much. I need to focus on studying,and I’m gonna start with Sociology.”

Jinsol turned around in her rolling chair, leg slung over the other, with a sly smirk. “Aaaaahh, your _Sociology_ class, huh?”

Sooyoung furrowed her brow. “What? I need it for my major.”

“Mmhmm, yeah, you do. But I think you need Miss Kahei Wong more…”

The brown-haired girl blushed pink, shuffling her notes. “Wh-what the hell are you on about? It’s just for study help.”

“Uh huh, you wanna bump mitochondrias with her, don’t ya?” Jinsol giggled.

“That’s _biology_. See, this is why you’re gonna be flunking out!”

Jinsol got up and went to the door. “Alrighty little miss In-Denial, I’m gonna get some lunch, you want anything?”

“Just a pepperoni slice, thanks.”

“Have fun!” The blonde yelled as she exited.

The brunette sighed, opening up her computer. She opened up her email and found there was one new mail whose subject read, “YOU’VE WON! CLICK THE LINK TO ENTER!”

She rolled her eyes. _Really? Spam to my school email? Do these people really think anyone who isn’t retired is gonna fall for this shit?_

Sooyoung promptly deleted the email and went over to her university website, clicking around to find her TA’s email.

Another notification.

She clicked back to her email.

“YOU’VE WON! CLICK THE LINK TO ENTER!”

_Again? Geez, these people really won’t let up._

Delete.

Another notification.

“YOU’VE WON! CLICK THE LINK TO ENTER!”

Delete.

 _Three_ notifications.

“YOU’VE WON! CLICK THE LINK TO ENTER!”

“PLEASE!”

“I KNOW YOU’RE IGNORING ME! CLICK THE LINK TO ENTER!”

Sooyoung’s heart started racing. _These bots man...weird shit._

Delete.

Two notifications.

“IT’S OKAY, I’LL JUST GIVE YOU YOUR PRIZE RIGHT NOW!”

“NO PEEKING HA SOOYOUNG!”

Sooyoung’s blood turned to ice. _Okay, now this is getting freaky._

She looked at the sender’s email address, which was “cupidsbow.h.e.1,” and tried to report it for spam, but for some reason, the option didn’t show up.

A notification.

Sooyoung clicked back to see a subject line that was from the same address, but it wasn’t in all caps. It read, “Look up.”

Her fingers trembled on her keys as she slowly raised her head, her heart pounding in her chest. She saw a plaid, yellow skirt, a matching jacket, and then the face of a girl, pretty, with long, light brown hair and bangs. The girl gave her a huge, toothy grin, her eyes glowing red and two fangs exposed.

“HELLO! YOU’VE WON!”

Sooyoung let out a banshee scream, her laptop launched at the creature in front of her, crawling up on her bed with her knees to her chest. The...whatever it was… jumped back in surprise, and Sooyoung could now see that it had tiny bat wings, a pair of red horns on its head, and a scorpion’s tail.

“Get the fuck. Away. From. Me!” Sooyoung yelled, her voice hoarse from screaming, her fingers forming a makeshift cross in front of her face.

The creature blinked, hopping up onto the bed with her and holding onto her hands, lowering the “cross.”

It giggled like a little girl, and not like the monster Sooyoung knew it was. She’d seen plenty of horror movies to know.

“Hi! I’m Chuu! You’re Ha Sooyoung, right? That’s what my file said your name was!”

“What...file…?” Sooyoung cautiously asked.

“The file I was given, all about you and your whole family line!”

Sooyoung cocked an eyebrow in confusion. “I-is this some kind of joke? Are you one of Jinsol’s friends here to fuck with me?”

“I don’t know who Jinsol is, but I’m Chuu! I’ve been sent to torment you for the rest of your mortal life! I’m your personal imp!”

“...I’m sorry, did you just say _imp_?”

Chuu giggled. “Yep! I’m what they call a ‘trickster demon.’ I’m here because _your_ family line was cursed to have a demon possess them every 300 years, and lucky you! You won _me_! Doesn’t that sound great?”

Sooyoung shook her head, her eyes wide with fear. “No. No it does not.”

“Oooh we’re gonna have so much fun together! Do you want me to tell you how I got assigned to you?”

Sooyoung slumped over, her head in her hands. “Do I even have a choice?”

Chuu smiled widely. “Nope!”


	2. II

Nearly all humans knew that there was one plane of existence, the one they inhabited and lived in. However, the reality of the situation was that there were two: Mortum, the aforementioned plane of humans, and Infernum, the plane of demons. It was a world full of unimaginable creatures of all sorts, from tiny insect-like demons to hulking, gigantic beasts capable of mass destruction. But wherever their lot in life took them, they all started somewhere.

That place happened to be The Infernum Training and Education Facility. On this particular day, demons who had finished their studies had just graduated, their fiery red robes and badges signifying their coming of age.

“Hey, Chuu!”

Chuu looked over her shoulder and smiled, seeing two of her fellow students run from the crowd to join her, a tall, brown-haired imp with a big bright smile and a shorter, round-faced one following behind her.

“Oh there you are! I thought you got swallowed up by everybody!” Chuu mused.

“Well, maybe  _ Yeojin _ might have. People probably thought I was with a Grade 1 imp!” the taller one said, ruffling the smaller one’s, hair.

“Hey I resent to that, Choerry!” Yeojin barked.

“Look at baby Yeojin using big words~” Choerry giggled.

“ _ Anyway _ ,” Yeojin drawled, “Have you gotten your first assignment yet, Chuu?”

Chuu sighed. “No, Mr. Aseroth hasn’t said anything about it besides that I’m getting one eventually.”

Choerry furrowed her brow. “That’s weird. Usually everybody gets their assignment  _ before  _ graduation.”

“Well, what did you guys get?” Chuu asked, trying to distract herself.

“Mine is so  _ boring! _ ” Yeojin huffed, “I have to possess a house with a new married couple, they’re probably gonna be sucking face all day!”

“But that means that you can do things to freak them out, so they never get to do it,” Chuu said.

Yeojin rolled her eyes. “I  _ guess  _ so. But Choerry’s is way cooler! She’s gonna get to possess an old abandoned asylum!”

Choerry flapped her little wings in excitement. “I get to work with  Fraz-Urb'luu; he’s been working in possession and illusion for nearly thirty centuries now! I mean, he’s going to be in a different  _ wing _ but still!”

Chuu grinned. “Gosh, I hope I get something even half as good as you guys.”

Right as Chuu was speaking, a tiny messenger demon, a little birdlike creature with teeth and spines on its back, dropped a small scroll in the imp’s hands before flapping away. She unfurled the message, squinting at the near illegible red handwriting.

“Oh it’s from Mr. Aseroth! He wants to see me right now! Gotta go!” 

And with that, Chuu ran off, pushing through the throngs of young demons, her friends wishing her good luck.

Mr. Aseroth’s office was in the Administry of Balor, a miles high complex across from the academy where higher-up demons assigned placements for other demons. Dashing in, older demons of shapes and sizes walking or hovering past her, she noticed one of the elevators in front of her closing, a hulking, toadlike demon inside. 

“Ah! Mister! Hold the door!” Chuu yelled.

The demon simply grunted, wrapping his knifelike claws around the door and pushing it open, denting the door.

Chuu grinned. “Thank you!”

As the numbers slowly went up, the little imp rocked on the balls of her feet. “I’m going to be getting my first assignment today! I’m so happy!”

The other demon grunted.

“When did you get your first assignment?” She asked him.

No response. He stuck out his long tongue on the side of his mouth, licking his eyeball.

“Shy? I understand,” Chuu said quieter, nodding.

The door opened on her floor, and she ran out, waving goodbye to the demon on the elevator, who grunted again in response. 

Mr. Aseroth was on the phone with someone, wiping the sweat from his brow. He was probably about eight feet tall, with bright red skin and muscles bulging in his work shirt. His face was inhuman, with slitted nostrils and canine teeth jutting from his lower jaw, and he had two long horns sticking straight up above his eyebrows. Despite this, his deep voice wavered as he spoke.

“Y-yes Miss Doth’tos, I  _ know  _ I requested her...yes...I—I just need some time to organize before you let Miss Chuu come up–”

He turned his head towards Chuu, who was standing right in front of his desk.

“AH! M-Miss Chuu!” he shouted, shuffling the slew of papers in front of him. “You’re quick.”

“I’m sorry Mr. Aseroth, I just really  _ really  _ wanted to hear about what my assignment was!” The imp replied, clasping her hands together, eyes sparkling. “It’s going to be exciting, right?”

The older demon sighed. “Miss Chuu, you have fantastic grades in every subject but...you’re still an imp, and since this is your first assignment it probably won’t suit your interests.”

Chuu pouted. “Aww...but Choerry got assigned to an asylum! Isn’t that interesting?”

“Choerry is going to be working under multiple higher demons as an  _ apprentice. _ Look, I really would love to assign you to something better, because I think you’re better than this. But I’m just a counselor. I can’t exactly cut a deal with Balor. He’s the Lord of All Demons, and what he says imps are capable of, goes.”

Chuu sighed, slumping over with her cheek squished on the desk. “Okay, I understand. What is my assignment?”

“I had it somewhere...before you came in…” Mr. Aseroth skimmed through his papers. “Ah! Alright, it’s not here, it’s still on the computer…”

The demon counselor tapped his clawed finger on a key and brought up a profile, that included personal information about a human. The picture at the top was of a beautiful, brown-haired girl. Chuu’s eyebrow raised.

“This is Ha Sooyoung...a twenty-one year old human who is attending Seoul University. For some reason in her notes it says she has been decreed to have an imp possess her place of being every 300 years…”

“So I have to make her life miserable?” Chuu asked.

“Yes! Pester her, do whatever you must to make her life a, well...living hell,” Mr. Aseroth said, smiling, mumbling under his breath, “You’re good at that sort of thing.”

Chuu grinned widely and raised her hand.

“But you cannot kill her.”

Chuu lowered her hand and pouted again. “Awww, why not?”

Mr. Aseroth gritted his teeth. “Because it defeats the whole purpose of you pestering her. Plus, you’re an imp. You’re not allowed to kill humans.”

Chuu raised her hand again.

“And not by ‘accident’ either!”

The imp clenched her fist in determination. “Okay, I won’t. But...I’ll do my best to bother her!”

Mr. Aseroth chuckled, ruffling the girl’s hair with his humongous hand. “That’s my Chuu.”

“Alright, now I just have to use this fancy new printer we got for human soul profiles and I’ll send you on your way!”

The demon moved his mouse to the “print” function and went over to the printer, which resembled a normal, human printer with the exception of the red paint and skull decorations. The green printing light turned on and the machine literally screamed, the wails of damned souls combining with the sounds of the printing mechanisms. 

Mr. Aseroth chuckled and tried to start conversation. “Damn, you’d think with technology these days they’d make these things less noisy!”

Once the printer silenced, Chuu’s counselor opened the front hatch, revealing not a piece of paper but a small ball of deep, brownish-red energy. When Mr. Aseroth handed it to Chuu, she could see the swirling images of a little girl playing with her friends, a baby held in her mother’s arms, and a highschooler in graduation garb. Finally, the name “Ha Sooyoung” appeared, with the girl’s information scrolling down. 

“Do you think you’re ready to go?” Mr. Aseroth asked, a gentle nostalgia in his eyes.

Chuu nodded. “Of course, always!”

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey sorry for not updating this sooner, i got into a bit of a writing slump, but here is the next chapter! i figured i would give chuu some backstory~
> 
> also i promise i'll try to update more often than monthly at least!


	3. III

“Aaaand that’s how I got here!” Chuu finished, taking a deep breath.

Sooyoung stared at Chuu’s round, smiling face for a few seconds, barely able to retain all that she just heard. “You’re a demon...and you’re here to torment me. Why?”

Chuu pressed her finger to her chin, then brought out the orb. “I...don’t know! It said on your profile that your family was cursed...doesn’t say who did it though…”

“So...what exactly is it that you  _ do _ ?”

“Well, you see all those emails you got?” Chuu asked, pointing at the now open laptop screen. “I did that! I went in your computer like this!”

The imp suddenly started glowing a bright white until only her silhouette was visible, then the light arced and went into the screen. Sooyoung blinked in surprise, squinting at her computer to see if anything had changed. 

“Hello!”

Sooyoung’s eyes darted down to the corner of her screen next to her browser desktop button, and she saw a tiny, round Chuu head on the screen. She traced her finger along the trackpad, and Chuu followed it, her head replacing her cursor. The demon then giggled, bouncing across the screen on her own like a rubber ball. 

“Pretty cool, huh? I can see  _ everything _ ! It’s like a digital playground~”

Sooyoung rolled her eyes. “Alright, cute party trick, now stop possessing my laptop. I need to do something.”

Chuu jumped onto her browser tab, which maximized the screen, showing the list of TAs for that semester. In the center of the screen was the TA for Sociology 121, a pink-haired girl with a shy, warm smile. 

“Ooooh who’s this you wanna email?” Chuu chirped, “She’s pretty~ Do you  _ like _ her?”

Sooyoung huffed. “She’s my TA, I don’t  _ like  _ her, I barely even know her.  _ Why does everyone keep saying that…? _ ”

The human girl hovered over the email address, then paused. “...Wait how do you know I’m gay?”

Chuu went over to the third tab open on Sooyoung’s laptop. “It’s in your Twitter bio! If you don’t want people to know you should keep it a secret~”

“Aren’t you smart?” Sooyoung deadpanned.

“You have so many interesting things in your history...oooh, what’s ‘XXXTube?’”

Sooyoung gasped and turned bright red. “NO!”

Unfortunately, Chuu had already bounced on the link, which opened another window and an ad in the corner of the screen. The video played by itself, showing two women, naked, having very loud and  _ very _ graphic sex. The demon laughed out loud, watching Sooyoung try to close the window to no avail.

“Oh wow, looks like they’re having lots of fun! Let’s make it louder!”

Chuu hopped over to the volume setting and turned it up to 100, the moans of the women nearly deafening. Sooyoung reflexively covered her ears, her computer toppeling to the floor, the human girl diving to try and turn the volume down. Over the porn sounds, Sooyoung could faintly hear a knock on the door.

“S-Sooyoung, I’m back! What’s going on?”

Sooyoung hissed a string of curses under her breath at the sound of her roommate’s voice and furiously hammered on the volume down button, which refused to work due to Chuu’s meddling. “H-hold on a sec!”

“If you’re...busy...I can go do something else…” Jinsol said, her voice tinged with concern.

“No wait!” 

Without warning, Chuu closed all of the windows, leaving Sooyoung in sweet silence. “Alright...you can come in…”

Jinsol peeked through the door, looking Sooyoung up and down before coming in and handing her a slice of pizza. “If you wanted some private time you could’ve just said so.”

“It was an accident,” Sooyoung said, exasperated. 

Jinsol nodded, her eyes unfocused. “Speaking of that, where the hell are my headphones?”

The blonde got up, and Sooyoung jolted at a finger tapping her shoulder, surprised to see Chuu seated next to her. 

“ _ What the hell, get back in the laptop! _ ” Sooyoung whispered angrily.

“I thought you didn’t  _ want  _ me there~” Chuu cooed, feigning innocence.

“ _ You idiot, she’s gonna see you! _ ” 

“See what?”

Sooyoung whipped around, seeing Jinsol staring right at them.

“Wh–don’t you see her?” The brunette asked, pointing at Chuu.

“No…” Jinsol replied, her eyes wide and eyebrows pursed in the center. “Sooyoung, are you okay?”

Sooyoung turned her head to Chuu, meeting her dewy, happy stare, then turned back to Jinsol. “N-nevermind. I think I saw your headphones on the dresser.”

When the blonde turned back around and spotted her coveted headphones, Chuu wiggled her eyebrows, getting up from the bed. “Ooh la la...first your teacher, then your roommate...your file says you’re a virgin, but I don’t think that’s true~”

Sooyoung didn’t respond for a few moments, waiting for Jinsol to plug her earbuds into her phone and busy herself.

“Stop saying weird shit like that, she’s been my best friend for ages,” Sooyoung grumbled, her face getting hot. “Just get back in the computer.”

“I have a better idea~”

Chuu started glowing again, but this time she simply disappeared out of thin air.

_ Great, now where did she go… _ ? Sooyoung thought to herself.

_ Yoo-hoo~ _

Sooyoung’s heart stopped for a moment. She could hear Chuu’s voice, but it wasn’t next to her, it was inside her head.

_ What the fuck...are you possessing me right now?? _   


Chuu giggled.  _ Woahhhh this is so cool! I can see inside your brain! _

_ Oh, so is my head gonna turn in circles and I’m gonna crawl on the ceiling?  _   


_ No I can't do that...I can do this, though! _   


Sooyoung’s arm jolted and it raised without her control, slapping herself across the cheek.   


_ Oh, very mature… _

“Hey Sooyoung…”

Sooyoung slowly turned to Jinsol, her head starting to pulse with pain from Chuu being shoved in there. “Y-yeah?”

“You know that Kahei is on this floor, right? You can just visit her if you want to.”

Sooyoung noted Chuu’s giggling and told her to shut up, then closed her laptop. “Ah.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey, so sorry for not updating this for a bit. this chapter is a little bit shorter just to introduce some of chuu's powers and such, this story is probably going to be more episodic for a while but there definitely will be some more plot-heavy stuff in the future!


	4. IV

Sooyoung winced at her headache, Chuu still occupying the crowded headspace of her mind. _  
_

_You know, you can leave any time you want…_ Sooyoung thought.

_But it’s so nice and cozy~ And I can do lots of fun things!_

Chuu took control of Sooyoung’s arm, the jerk causing her to drop her phone on the carpet. Sooyoung tried to resist the demon’s control by reaching to grab her phone, but it was no use, as Chuu lifted the human girl’s hand to pick her nose, shoving it so far up that it hurt.

“OW OW OW STOP!”

It took all of the brunette’s strength to pull her arm back down, gritting her teeth at the imp controlling her.

“That’s enough! Listen, this is serious, I need to discuss study plans with my TA, and if I mess this up it could mean my grade, okay? So can you…”

Sooyoung stopped for a second, turning around to see someone else on the floor peeking out of their dorm, eyebrows furrowed. Sooyoung smiled bashfully and waved, then turned back around and continued walking.

_Can you please, for like, ten or fifteen minutes...just leave me alone. Wait outside._

Chuu materialized in front of Sooyoung, brushing off her skirt and looking right into Sooyoung’s eyes, the human girl breathing a sigh of relief being freed of the immense migraine.

“Sooyoung, I’m sorry...I can’t,” Chuu said softly, a sense of sympathy and maturity in the imp’s eyes for the first time. “It’s my _duty,_ my assignment was to follow you around and bother you for the rest of your life, if I fail...then my boss will get mad at me.”

Sooyoung scoffed. “Who cares if your boss gets a little pissed? Everyone does it.”

Chuu’s eyes lowered. “If I don’t do a good job, I might not get assigned to anything better than this. I’ll be at entry level forever.”

The human sighed heavily. “Okay, fine...you can come in with me, but I want you to stay quiet, okay? Can you do that?”

Chuu nodded. “Okay!”

Sooyoung took a quick glance at the room number on her phone, taking a deep breath before knocking on the door of her TA’s dorm. A few footsteps were heard before Wong Kahei answered the door. All Sooyoung could think in that moment was that the photo of her on the school’s website didn’t do her justice. For starters, the photo was clearly old, with the assistant now having reddish-brown hair with long, wispy bangs. She had a mug of coffee with a cute mascot on it, the steam rising gently.

“H-hello, do you need something?” Kahei asked, her voice meek and breathy.

“Hi, I’m Ha Sooyoung, I’m going to be one of the students in Sociology 111 this year...I just wanted some study help. You’re the TA, right?”

Kahei nodded, then chuckled. “Oh...y-yes I am. I just got a little startled...usually students come to me _after_ the semester has started. Come on in.”

Sooyoung walked in, closing the door right behind her. She suddenly realized Chuu was with her and turned back around, thinking she had slammed the door in her face, only to see the demon slowly phasing through the door.

“Something wrong?” Kahei said, peeking over Sooyoung’s shoulder.

“N-no nothing…”

Kahei’s room was pretty small, with barely any furniture, only one plush chair in front of her bed. The TA leaned back onto the foot of her bed while Sooyoung took a seat in the chair. Chuu looked around for somewhere to sit, only to plop down on the carpet, legs crossed, tail whipping back and forth like a cat.

“So...what sort of study help do you need?”

“Well...I mean, I’ve been looking over the textbook…” Sooyoung started.

Kahei giggled. “Wait, you actually _read_ that?”

Sooyoung smiled awkwardly. “Y-yeah...aren’t you supposed to? The textbook was required…”

“Professor Kellens keeps saying we need a textbook to ‘enhance the learning experience…’”

Kahei lowered her voice to playfully mock the old man, and Sooyoung laughed softly.

“...But really, it’s a paperweight. I’ve only seen a few students actually read it. But if it helps you, then you can.”

“I mean...it does have graphs. Graphs are nice,” Sooyoung quipped.

Kahei nodded to herself. “Yes, that’s true.”

“But I mean...I think that I’d rather get some help from a real person, y’know? You didn’t get to be a TA for nothing, right?”

The TA looked up at Sooyoung. “Are you asking if I can be your study buddy?”

“I mean, yeah...maybe going to Starbucks or something…”

Chuu pouted cutely, looking up between the two humans with her arms crossed in front of her. _Ugh...I’m supposed to be bothering Sooyoungie, but all this gushy stuff is only bothering_ me. _But...I can’t say anything._

Chuu glanced at Kahei.

_Well…_

Chuu suddenly stood up and disappeared, surprising Sooyoung enough that she turned around. Kahei blinked. “Sooyoung...are you sure nothing’s wrong?”

Sooyoung turned back around and scratched the back of her head. “I-I’m fine! I just…”

Before the human girl could finish her sentence, Kahei lurched forward, like she was about to vomit.

“K-Kahei?!” Sooyoung stood up and took Kahei’s shoulders, seeing her form slump over. When Kahei’s head whipped back up, her eyes were rolled to the back of her head, then, almost robotically, snapped forward. Sooyoung let go of the TA as she sat back up, this time setting her coffee down on the side table and lowering her eyes, a darkness in her gaze.

“Hey there, sugartits,” Kahei drawled. It was Kahei’s voice, but Sooyoung knew that this _definitely_ was the doing of a certain imp.

Sooyoung closed her eyes and bit down on her tongue. “Chuu...I swear to _God…_ ”

Chuu in Kahei’s body pouted, putting one hand on her hip. “Who’s Chuu? Is this some other girl you’ve got?”

“Chuu, this is serious. You promised you wouldn’t do this.”

“You just said I couldn’t _talk._ And I’m not. It’s Wong Kahei,” the imp said matter-of-factly, taking both hands and cupping “her” breasts, pushing them up.

Sooyoung’s eyes darted to her TA’s chest, blushing a deep red. “I-I’m not enjoying this…”

“Kahei” wrapped “her” arms around Sooyoung’s waist, leaning back so the human girl was pinning her to the bed. “Do you really wanna ‘study’ with me? We can study other things besides Sociology…”

Sooyoung slapped away “Kahei’s” hand that was sliding up her waist. “Chuu, get out of her, now!”

“Kahei” rolled her eyes. “Alright, fine.”

Chuu jumped out and took a seat on the bed, Kahei blinking slowly. Once she came to, she blushed, looking Sooyoung up and down, who was still pressing her to the bed.

“U-um Sooyoung...what h-happened…”

“You passed out!” Sooyoung improvised. “I didn’t know what happened so I...gave you CPR!”

“O-oh...well thank you…”

Sooyoung got up and looked behind Kahei at Chuu, shocked her lie actually worked, smiling.

“Well…since I’m feeling a little under the weather...maybe we can talk about this some other time? At Starbucks?” Kahei asked.

Sooyoung laughed nervously. “Y-yeah! Sure! Just email me, I’m on the class list.”

Kahei peeked out the door as Sooyoung and Chuu left. “Will do.”

After Kahei closed her door, Sooyoung turned to Chuu, who had the biggest Cheshire Cat smirk on her face.

“See...I helped you out, didn’t I?”

“You nearly got me in trouble...but...I guess so…” Sooyoung said, mumbling something.

“Ah ah, what was _that,_ Sooyoungie?” Chuu asked knowingly, putting a hand up to her pointed ear.

“Okay, okay, okay...I said thank you.”

Chuu giggled smugly, skipping up ahead and fluttering her tiny wings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol remember when I said that I'd update this more often than twice a month...well that didn't end up happening. But hey, here's a new chapter! Hope yall liked it!


	5. V

“Alright, now make sure to do the online quiz before 11:59 tonight! I mean it!”

Sooyoung’s professor dismissed her class, the students eager to get out as soon as possible. Chuu was awfully excited as well, taking Sooyoung’s wrist and tugging her out the door.

“Oh, hey!”

Sooyoung dug her heels in to keep Chuu from pulling, turning to face Kahei, who was shuffling test papers. “Don’t forget our date on Sunday, okay?”

“D-date?” Sooyoung stuttered.

“Yeah,” Kahei tucked hair behind her ear.  “I mean, if that’s what you—”

Sooyoung placed a hand on Kahei’s, trying to ignore Chuu’s incessant whining. “I’ll be there.”

Kahei nodded, and Sooyoung did a quick heel-turn, allowing Chuu to bring her outside, her tiny wings flapping like a hummingbird’s.

“Ah, thank Balor we’re free! I thought your professor was going to go on _forever_ …” Chuu sighed.

“It wasn’t _that_ bad,” Sooyoung retorted.

“Mmmm...you’re just saying that because Kahei was there,” Chuu said, smirking.

Sooyoung just shook her head as she entered her dorm, seeing Jinsol standing in the middle of the room with multiple outfits laid out on the bed.

“Hey Jinsol...woah, what’s all this?”

“Didn’t you hear? Jungeun’s throwing a party tonight!”

“No, I didn’t...Jungeun’s that blonde freshman, right?”

“Yeah, she’s cool. Anyway, she said I could bring a plus one~” Jinsol sing-songed, elbowing Sooyoung.

Chuu gasped loudly, clinging to Sooyoung’s shoulder.

“Jinsol, I already told you I’m laying low this semester,” the brunette sighed.

“This is different! It’s just going to be a few people, promise.”

Sooyoung clenched her fist, then unclenched. “You really promise?”

“Of course!”

“...Fine.”

* * *

 

Surprisingly, Jinsol actually kept her promise. There were only about a dozen people attending the party at Jungeun’s apartment, mostly sophomores, but there were a couple freshmen sprinkled in here and there. Sooyoung took a seat on the couch with her red cup, while Chuu bounced up and down excitedly.

“Why are you so happy? You can’t even drink anything…”

“It’s my first time with so many humans in one place!” Chuu said. “It’s…”

Chuu’s eyes trailed off to a (clearly drunk) couple who were grinding on each other.

“Well, it’s interesting, I’ll say that.”

“Yeah…” Sooyoung said, taking a sip of her drink. Jinsol was dragging a brunette over towards Sooyoung from across the room, and Sooyoung’s eyes looked up, the music starting to give her a headache.

“Hey, Sooyoung! This is Haseul, she’s in your major, soooooo I thought you two could talk!”

“Oh. Uh h-hi…” Sooyoung replied. The girl was beautiful for sure, pretty, sharp eyes and a sweet smile, but her mind kept drifting to Vivi.

“Hi…” Haseul waved, not really saying much after.

“Well I’ll leave you two to it for a bit. Jungeun says she brought something fun, I’ll catch up with you guys later!”

Haseul sat down on the couch on the other side of Sooyoung. “...I’m sorry about Jinsol, she’s a little bit...forward.”

“It’s alright. Trust me, she’s my roommate, I know better than anyone.”

“Oh, really?” Haseul asked, “Sounds like something…”

“Yeah…”

“Hey everyone!” Jungeun yelled over the small crowd. She put out a wooden box on the table, opened it, and pulled out a ouija board, waving it in the air.

“We’re gonna try this out! Are you guys brave enough to join me?”

Chuu giggled. “This should be funny~”

“Those things don’t actually _work_ , do they?” Sooyoung asked.

“Of course not! It’s just humans being superstitious. Demons have better things to do, y’know? Although…”

“Although what?”

“Doesn’t mean I won’t try and take advantage of it~”

Sooyoung sighed. “Just don’t scare them too bad, okay?”

Chuu didn’t respond, instead following behind Sooyoung to the cleared-off table.

“How do you work one of these things?” Sooyoung asked Jungeun.

The younger blonde flipped over the box. “It says here we need everyone to put one hand on the planchette.”

A couple partygoers stepped back, not wanting to take part in this dark ritual. Sooyoung, Haseul, and Jinsol put their hands on the planchette with Jungeun.

“Alright, now, we just need to close our eyes and I’ll ask if anyone’s here. Then we open our eyes and see what happens.”

The three other girls nodded and closed their eyes. Jungeun spoke.

“If there are any spirits in this house, give us a sign.”

They all opened their eyes, and Sooyoung saw Chuu hop onto the table, causing it to shake.

“Jinsol, don’t kick the table,” Jungeun whispered.

“I didn’t do that…” Jinsol replied, fear in her tone.

Chuu crawled forward and placed her hand on top of the planchette. She dragged it to the “h,” then to the “i”. The remaining guests gasped.

“ _...Oh my god…_ ” Jungeun whispered. “U-um...what is your name?”

Chuu tapped her chin, then grinned, spelling out “S-E-Y-M-O-U-R-B-U-T-T-S”

“ _Seymour Butts_...really Jinsol?”

“Why me?” Jinsol said.

“You’re the only one who would make a dumb joke like that. Let’s be serious.”

Chuu grabbed the planchette abruptly and Jungeun gasped. “H-hey what?!”

The imp repeatedly spelled “B-U-T-T-F-A-R-T-6-9-6-9”

“JINSOL!” Both Haseul and Jungeun yelled.

“I said it’s not me!” the older blonde retorted.

“Well if it’s not you, then we’re doing something wrong.” Jungeun flipped the box over again. “Oh wait...we forgot to say the ritual at the beginning. Okay okay, everyone close your eyes again.”

The girls did as they were told, and Jungeun read aloud. “Spirits from beyond the grave, answer our call, and we will heed your words. Now, if there are any spirits in this house, give us a sign.”

Sooyoung nearly started giggling as she opened her eyes, knowing Chuu. However, she was met with a sudden chill. She looked back up at Chuu, who was still on the table, and her brows were furrowed. Out of the corner of her eye, Sooyoung saw a dark figure start to form in front of the couch, darkness with a vaguely human shape. Chuu fluttered down off the table and waved.

“Ah! Hello sir!”

“I don’t think it’s working,” Haseul commented.

“What are you talking about? Don’t you see that?” Sooyoung asked, pointing towards the figure.

“See what, I don’t see anything…” Jungeun said monotonously.

“Okay now _Sooyoung’s_ playing with us.” Jinsol laughed.

“No I’m serious! It’s right there!” She said again, pointing more deliberately this time.

“Dude, you’re really freaking me out right now,” Jinsol said.

Chuu walked towards the figure, which hadn’t moved from its spot. “You know, you didn’t have to come all the way up here for these huma-”

The figure violently shot out a long, clawed hand, wrapping it tight around Chuu’s neck. It lifted her off the ground, Chuu struggling to flap her wings, trying to pry the hand off of her, gagging and gasping for breath.

Sooyoung sprung up from her seat and rushed forward. She reached her hands out towards Chuu and the demon, feeling a sudden energy rush through her.

“No, STOP!”

Bright, white light blasted from Sooyoung’s palms, the beams burning a searing hole in the demon’s flesh. The creature recoiled in pain, dropping Chuu and staggering to the ground. The demon’s form began to disintegrate, melting down until it was nothing more than a pile of pitch black ash.

Sooyoung stepped back in shock, nearly falling over her chair as she sat back down. Chuu coughed a breath and stood up, staring wide-eyed at Sooyoung. The brunette looked back at her friends, who were equally confused.

“Sooyoung, are you okay?” Jinsol asked.

“We need to go home.”

“What—”

“Right. Now.”

Jinsol opened her mouth to protest, but stopped, slowly stood, and awkwardly smiled as an apology to Jungeun as the two girls and the imp left the apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahahAA remember when I said I was updating this frequently? I have to apologize for this, I've been kinda busy w classes and whatnot. But hey, here's the long-awaited 5th chapter!


	6. VI

Once Jinsol and Sooyoung walked through the door, Jinsol turned to face Sooyoung.

“Alright, seriously...you need to tell me what’s up. Because all we had there was _alcohol._ You were freaking the fuck out. If you’re on some meds, or _what,_ just tell me and we can get to the hos—”

“I’m not on anything...look, it’s hard to explain.”

Jinsol gave a small smile. “Dude, you can trust me.”

Sooyoung went to open her mouth, but she then felt a hand grab her wrist. Sooyoung turned her head to see Chuu, who had come back to again, eyes full of worry.

“You can’t tell her.”

Chuu stood up and pulled Sooyoung closer to the door, causing the human to jerk forward. Sooyoung resisted slightly, looking back to her friend.

“I’m going outside.”

“What the hell? You can’t be going out—”

Sooyoung lowered her voice. “I’m just getting some air.”

Chuu led Sooyoung by the hand until she found a small alcove under the stairs. It was dark, barring the streetlights outside shining through the glass door of the fire exit.

Still holding onto her hands, Chuu locked eyes with Sooyoung. “You can’t tell her about me or the demon world. It’s against our contract. Only humans bound to demons can get involved.”

Sooyoung stayed silent for a moment, then let go of Chuu’s hands. “Okay then...what about Kahei? What about the humans at the party?”

“What about them?”

“You possessed Kahei without her knowing you did it. You messed around with my friends. Isn’t _that_ getting other humans involved?”

Chuu sucked in a breath. “I-I...I’m sorry. I just got so excited with my first contract ever and...I got carried away. I...I don’t expect you to forgive me.”

“You should be saying sorry to _them._ You saw that thing; if I hadn’t done...what ever I did, it could’ve killed them…”

Sooyoung caught a glimpse of Chuu’s neck, noticing in the dim light long, dull, rough burn marks across her throat.

“...It could’ve killed _you._ ”

Chuu placed a hand over the marks, contemplating. “Sooyoung...I really _can’t_ tell them.”

“If you can’t tell them, tell your supervisor.”

“I can’t tell him either…”

“Chuu, why? Who knows if there are other demons out there trying to kill people. It doesn’t seem like that kind of thing normally happens, right?”

“That’s true...it doesn’t make sense. He shouldn’t have been there...I’ve never even seen a demon that looked like him before. But Sooyoung, even if I wanted to, I can’t. I’m not allowed to go back.”

“Go back?”

“To Infernum. Not until I complete the contract...which would be when you die.”

Sooyoung began pacing. “There’s got to be some way. Maybe if I go with you—”

“No no no no no, that’s impossible. No human has ever gone to Infernum...nobody _alive_ , anyway.”

“Chuu…”

Sooyoung took Chuu’s wrists. “We have to try, okay?”

Chuu blinked, then began to smile. “Well...I think I remember where I came to Mortum from. We could go back and see if there’s some way of getting back the way I came.”

Sooyoung chuckled. “That’s my Chuu.”

Chuu felt a heat flush into her cheeks for a second, then she took Sooyoung out onto the streets.

 

* * *

 

Yves crinkled her nose as the smell of stale cigarette smoke hit her nostrils, seeing a variety of sketchy individuals out on the streets with their hands in their coat pockets (along with who knows what).

“Are you sure we’re going the right way?”

“Yep, there isn’t a more sinful place in the whole city...ah, here!”

Chuu dragged the human girl into an alleyway that was illuminated solley by a pink gentleman’s club sign on the building next to it. At the very end was a brick wall. A dead end.

Chuu pressed her hands up against it, her tail waving around in annoyance.

“It was right here. All I did was phase right through it!”

“Is there like, a password? Some kind of code?” Sooyoung asked, pressing random bricks on the wall.

“No, I don’t think so…”

Sooyoung and Chuu both stood back from the wall, hands to their chins in thought.

“Maybe...oh! Maybe it’s like Harry Potter!” Chuu exclaimed.

“I...wait, how do you know what Harry Potter is?” Sooyoung asked.

“For some reason, a lot of humans think those books are from us...nevermind! What I mean is, maybe you have to run straight at the wall and you can phase through!”

As Chuu began running, Sooyoung said, “Chuu, I don’t think—”

“UUGH!”

The imp grunted in pain, splatting face first against the wall. She flopped down on her butt, and Sooyoung suppressed a giggle, picturing the stars circling around her head like a cartoon.

“Okay that didn’t work.”

“Well, even if it did work, how was _I_ supposed to get through after you?” Sooyoung asked.

“Hmm...oh wait!”

Chuu grabbed Sooyoung’s hand tight. “Maybe we have to do it together!”

“I don’t know…”

“Come on, we have to try, that’s what you said, right?” Chuu said, a bit mockingly.

Sooyoung sighed. “Okay…”

Sooyoung squinted her eyes, bracing herself as she ran at the wall with Chuu.

And then she opened her eyes.

What she expected was to hit the wall with a rough thud, but instead, she felt a soft recoil, like she was in a moonbounce. She looked to the demon, who was equally surprised.

“Did you feel that?”

“Yeah…” Sooyoung placed her hand up against the wall, and it felt warm to the touch, even though there was nothing on the other side that could’ve heated it up. That is, that Sooyoung or Chuu knew of. Chuu let go of Sooyoung’s hand, and the wall was cold again.

“Wait, Chuu…” Sooyoung took Chuu’s hand, and the warmth returned.

“Chuu, you might be onto something. It must be something to do with us doing it together.”

Chuu hummed in frustration, walking in a circle. “So we have to be together...hmm..mm…”

The human could practically see the light bulb over Chuu’s head when she looked back up, her eyes bright. “Wait, what if I was inside you?”

Sooyoung blinked.

“...No, not like that! I mean...wait, stay there.”

Chuu began glowing and possessed Sooyoung, moving her arms around.

 _How’s_ this _gonna help?_ Sooyoung asked, already feeling the migraine come on.

_Look, I’ll just control your arms. You can control the legs. It’s like a plane, you’re pilot, I’m co-pilot._

_This better work…_

Sooyoung stared at the brick wall, taking a deep breath in and out before she put one foot behind her, taking a runner’s stance. Closing her eyes, she took off, her arms like Jello under Chuu’s control, pumping back and forth. She opened them halfway through, and she saw a ring of flame start to form in the center of the wall, growing in diameter.

_Sooyoung, keep running!_

With one final leap of faith, Sooyoung and Chuu plunged into the hole, surrounded on all sides by fire. The flames formed a long tube with seemingly no end, almost blindingly bright, but Sooyoung surprisingly didn’t feel uncomfortably hot inside of it. Sooyoung felt her stomach start to churn, sliding faster and faster down the chute, which was barely wide enough for her. Squinting, she could see a tiny circle of light.

_Good, maybe we’re close to the end…_

The tunnel dipped in angle suddenly, and Sooyoung and Chuu screamed, the speed at which they were falling blowing Sooyoung’s hair back. Finally, they burst through a small metal door and landed on what looked like the carpeted floor of an office room. Chuu popped out of Sooyoung’s body, a big grin on her face.

“Oh my Balor...Sooyoungie, we did it! This is Mr. Aseroth’s office, we—”

The two girls turned towards the door, which had opened to reveal Mr. Aseroth standing there. His eyes bulged out of his skull, flicking between Chuu and Sooyoung, who was seated on the ground, half-terrified. He opened his toothy maw silently, pointing between the two before deeply sighing and collapsing to the ground with a loud boom.

Chuu glanced back at Sooyoung.

“O-oops?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay yall...im sorry i haven't been updating this like i said i would. i've kinda been having issues figuring out how i'd continue this, but i think i have some idea of where i want this to go so it'll make sense. don't worry! this fic isn't dead, i promise!


	7. VII

“Mr. Aseroth...Mr. Aseroth?”

The giant demon began to stir, his head wobbling, eyes slowly opening as Chuu fanned some incense she found on the table in front of his nose.

“Wh-wha? Chuu? What are you doing here? Why is your _human_ here?”

Mr. Aseroth’s eyes looked slightly downwards, noticing the claw marks across Chuu’s neck.

“Oh my Balor, what happened?” the demon asked, deep concern laden in his voice.

“I...I can explain...I think,” Chuu said. “Sooyoung and I went to a human party. Someone brought a ouija board and I decided to play with the humans with it…”

Mr. Aseroth furrowed his brow in disapproval.

“I-I know I shouldn’t have done it. But after they started trying to summon, a demon appeared out of nowhere! He was like a tall, long shadow, with big hands and no face...I tried to talk to him, but he tried to strangle me.”

“I’m glad you’re alright, Chuu, but...why, why would he attack you? You’re an imp.”

“That’s what I was saying...but right as he was doing it, Sooyoung yelled at him to stop, and a big beam of light shot out from her hands, phwoosh!”

Chuu put her hands out in front of her and imitated the sound of Sooyoung’s light.

Mr. Aseroth stood up, his eyes wide. “We have to—”

All of the sudden, a tremor began throughout the building. Chuu clung to Mr. Aseroth for balance, and Sooyoung onto Chuu. The tremors lasted for about thirty seconds, then stopped.

“What the hell was that?” Sooyoung asked.

“Planar shift. Every few hundred years Mortum and Infernum get closer. They’ve been happening more often, though…”

“Mortum?”

“It’s what we call your world,” Chuu explained. “Eventually they’ll align, and nobody knows what’ll happen when that does.”

“Or…” Mr. Aseroth began, and his face turned pale. He quickly grabbed a worn leather duffel bag, huge compared to the two humans. “Get inside. We need to get moving.”

“Wh-what? What’s going on?” Sooyoung said.

“I’ll explain when we get there, just get in. Chuu, you have to possess her, you won’t both fit.”

Chuu jumped into Sooyoung and Sooyoung nearly tripped, feeling the migraine growing already. Sooyoung climbed into the bag and Mr. Aseroth zipped it, his running causing the bag to shake.

 _“Shit, it all makes sense now…”_ Sooyoung and Chuu heard the demon murmur, soft beeping heard over his whispering.

A dull scrape of metal and a clunk later, Mr. Aseroth said, “Alright, you can come out now.”

Sooyoung got out, Chuu leaving her body. They were in a building, a museum of sorts, artifacts locked away in glass display sets with multiple locks on them. Stone tablets, bowls, and other everyday objects, except they were white and shimmering golden in a way that normal gold wouldn’t (at least what Sooyoung had ever seen of gold). Mr. Aseroth’s head was turning left and right as he walked down the hall, his muscular hands clenched in fists.

“The guards aren’t here...something’s wrong.”

“Mr. Aseroth, where are we? What is this?” Chuu asked.

“Well...since you and Sooyoung seem to be involved in what looks like some kind of prophecy to save mankind, I might as well tell you.”

“Prophecy??” Sooyoung said incredulously.

“This is the Infernum Vault. Before I was a supervisor, I was a guard here. This is where we kept any artifacts from _them,_ and if anyone had managed to tell anyone about _them,_ they’d be fired. You can guess what happened to me. The demons I told had their memories erased, but I kept my card, because I knew one day I’d need it. And here we are.”

“Who’s _them?_ ” the human asked.

“Celestials. You’d call them angels. Millions of years ago, Celestials and Demons waged war. Balor and the demon army wiped them all out...or at least, that’s what I thought, until today. Because you, Sooyoung, have some kind of Celestial powers. Celestial energy is the only thing that can kill a demon for good. Anything else might leave them dead for a bit, but they always come right back, usually stronger.”

Sooyoung’s mouth hung open. “So you’re saying...I’m an _angel?_ ”

“Well, way back, yeah. You only have a little Celestial blood in you...how you even have powers is a mystery.”

“But what about the demon?” Chuu asked.

“There are demons in Purgatory, demons that’ve killed humans outside of their contracts. The amount of planar shifts that’ve been happening lately might have let more and more of them escape. If this keeps up who knows how many demons will be running around.”

“So I’m supposed to kill them?” Sooyoung asked. “I don’t even know how I did what I did last night, it just _happened…”_

Mr. Aseroth swiped his keycard in the slot along the door at the end of the hall. “I can tell...that’s why we’re here. There are three Celestial weapons in the Vault, we need to get one of them to—”

In the next room, there was a room with three glass display cases, but there was only one weapon present, a golden axe with white accents, giving off the same golden glow as the artifacts. The other cases had their glass broken. Two piles of black ash lay on the floor.

“Oh no...oh no…” Mr. Aseroth swiped the keycard along the glass case with the axe inside, and as he reached to grab it, he pulled his hand back and yelped in pain, his hand smoking. “Chuu, take it. You’re an imp, you can touch it with your bare hands, you’re immune to the magic.”

Chuu quickly took the axe, grunting at the weight of it. She noted in her head that the shimmering, golden gloves that were next to the axe were missing as well from the other two displays.

“First things first, you two need to find where those other weapons are. If the wrong demon has those…”

“How are we supposed to find them?” Sooyoung asked. Fuck, everything was getting way too overwhelming. First she’s some kind of demon hunter, and now they have to go on a scavenger hunt for sacred magic weapons?

“Anything with Celestial magic is connected, it’ll show you the way.”

Mr. Aseroth’s eyes turned black and a swirling ring of flame opened up in the ground. “Now go!”

The two girls ran towards the portal, but before they entered, Chuu turned her head towards Mr. Aseroth and waved solemnly.

“I’ll make you proud, okay?”

Mr. Aseroth’s eyes sparkled with tears, and he nodded one last time before Sooyoung and Chuu leaped into the portal, hand in hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so here's the big reveal! now we can get to some demon-hunting and saving the world! (and who knows, maybe some more familiar faces will show up ;) )


	8. VIII

Sooyoung and Chuu, clinging tight to each other as they zoomed through the portal, reached towards the light on the other end, getting brighter and brighter until they both popped out the other end, collapsing on the floor.

The floor of Sooyoung’s room.

Sooyoung patted down the rug, sighing in relief. “Oh, we’re back.”

Suddenly, Jinsol burst in with a gasp. “Sooyoung!”

She pulled the other girl up off the ground and gave her a big hug, warm, wet tears dripping onto her shirt. “Oh my god, where were you?”

“Um...outside?” Sooyoung said, puzzled, slowly reciprocating the hug.

“Outside? For five  _ days? _ ” 

Sooyoung blinked. “Huh?”   
“Sooyoung, it’s the 8th. Remember?”

The human girl turned her head slightly to see the puppy calendar on the wall, seeing that the days had been crossed off up until the 8th. “I...I went to visit my parents. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”

“Well, I’m just glad you’re okay,” Jinsol said, “Let’s just hope Professor Kellens and Kahei don’t beat your ass.”

As Jinsol left the room, presumably for some dinner, Sooyoung cursed under her breath.

_ Kahei. _

“Ugh, I completely missed our date!” 

Sooyoung pulled out her phone, but Chuu slapped it out of her hands. “Sooyoungie, there’s no time. We’ve got a magic weapon to find.”

Sooyoung groaned as Chuu pulled her to the door, axe in the other hand, knowing that Professor Kellens was going to kill her for this.

As the two girls went outside, Chuu immediately began pacing around the courtyard, surrounded by empty tables, the street lights still glowing. She was studying the axe in her hand, dragging a small claw along the side of the blade, her tail flicking back and forth.

“Hm...Mr. Aseroth said that the weapon would show us the way...but I’m not seeing anything!”

“Try saying something.”

Uuuhh...open sesame!” Chuu yelled, pointing the axe north. Nothing.

“Nope. Wait, I bet this is some kind of thing with you. Lemme possess you.”

Sooyoung rolled her eyes. “I just got over my last migraine...but ok.”

The axe clattered to the ground when Chuu entered Sooyoung’s body, taking a hold of her arms.

“Okay, I’ll just pick this up with you~”

Sooyoung allowed Chuu to take control of her arm muscles, the axe feeling light as a feather in her arms. She swung it around, strangely enjoying the feeling of holding the weapon. She laughed a bit, feeling like a little kid holding a lightsaber as she slashed at the air.

_ Having fun, Youngie? You realize that to everybody else you look silly, playing with an invisible axe, right? _

Sooyoung felt the hold Chuu had on her begin to weaken, the axe becoming anything but weightless, the blade of the axe slicing straight into the grass. A thundering crack echoed in Sooyoung’s ears, and the crack in the ground opened in a long, thin line, glowing with golden energy, heading north. 

Chuu left Sooyoung’s body and blinked in disbelief.

“...huh. Well, I guess we’re going this way!” Chuu said, her little wings fluttering, pointing.

* * *

 

The two were running down the streets of the city, bumping into passersby as they stepped over cobblestone streets, following the golden path.

“Chuu...it feels like we’ve been going in circles for ages now...there’s got to be a shortcut or...something!” Sooyoung panted, zipping her hoodie up further.

“I feel like it’s close...it’s got to be, right? Not like Mr. Aseroth would make us catch a plane to another country, would he?” Chuu giggled, hopping between person after person, checking for their confused reaction.

“Ugh, Chuu, I know you’re a demon of mischief...but _ please _ , do not jinx this.”

“Hey…” Chuu said, “Is it just me, or does this place look familiar?”

Sooyoung, catching the whiff of stale smoke in her nose, nodded. Looking ahead, she noticed the path turn just shy of an alley. Looking up, a pink flourescent sign was blinking.

Chuu snickered. “Ahhh, of course! See, what did I tell you, most sinful place in the whole city!”

Sooyoung rolled her eyes. “Are we  _ really  _ going into a strip club to find a demon?”

“Do I even have to answer?” said Chuu, grinning lecherously. 

Sooyoung put her hood up and entered the club with Chuu. There wasn’t anyone at the front, surprisingly. Considering it was a weeknight, it wasn’t too terribly busy, but there were definitely enough people there to liven the mood. Waitresses in bras and barely-there shorts strutted around with beer mugs on plates, bending over to give the men at the tables an eyeful. On stage, the dancers were topless, spreading their legs and smiling plastically when the businessmen and heavies hollered and hooted like monkeys, throwing bills at them. Chuu was zipping around the place like the Tasmanian Devil, getting a look-see at all of the beautiful women surrounding her.

“Oooh, goodness...now  _ this _ is a party!”

“Alright now, enough ogling those girls, time to find our demon,” Sooyoung groaned, hauling off the imp that was acting like a kid in a candy store.

“Oh! R-right…”

Chuu looked down at the floor, seeing the path go back and underneath the feet of a very large bouncer in sunglasses.

“Maybe we can sneak past him,” Chuu said, disappearing as she entered Sooyoung.

Sooyoung, while also trying to catch the axe before it fell to the ground, pulled her hood over her eyes, shuffling next to the bouncer into a corner while he was looking the other direction. Unfortunately, he was more alert than he led on and caught Sooyoung by her hood, making her face him.

“Now hold on there, miss. Nobody gets a private session for free, much less with White-Winged Dove.”

Sooyoung laughed nervously. “H-how much?”

“More than you can afford, missy. $550 for an hour.”

The human’s blood went cold.  _ Shit, Chuu, $550? I don’t even have enough money for pasta. _

_ Don’t worry, Youngie...I’ve got it covered. Watch. _

Chuu turned Sooyoung’s head towards the stage, where a fat man in a suit and many rings was trying to climb up on stage, reaching for a stripper’s ass. A thick wad of cash was in his back pants pocket. A reddish hue shimmered around the money, lifting up into the air and slowly floating across the room and into Sooyoung’s back pocket. Sooyoung took the money and showed the bouncer with a smirk.

“Does this cover it?”

The bouncer started sweating, taking his sunglasses off and inspecting the money. “W-well, yes, it does...come right on in.”

Sooyoung smiled, walking in the door. 

_ Nice work. _

_ Hey, I might be a demon, but if there’s anything more evil than a demon, it’s the rich. _

Ahead of her was a hallway of more doors. Above them in pink flourescent lighting was the names of the strippers. At the end was White-Winged Dove, with a little bird symbol next to it. 

_ Okay, what now, Chuu? _

_ Well, we’ve got the axe. If the demon doesn’t give it up, then we can use force. _

Sooyoung took a deep breath. “Okay.”

She knocked lightly on the door.

“Oh~ Come on in~”

_ Wait...why does that sound familiar? _

_ I don’t know, Sooyoungie. I don’t know that many humans. _

The human scoffed, remembering that Chuu could hear her thoughts.  _ Just be quiet and let me deal with this right now. _

When Sooyoung opened the door, it was clear why she recognized the voice.

Pretty, sharp eyes, and a sweet smile, the woman she had met before sat before her in a velvet chair, but this time a few things were different. Instead of long, brown hair, she’d cut it to just below her jawline. Her makeup was smokey around her eyes, and her lips were a deep red. She was also wearing black lingerie, her cleavage and milky thighs on display.

“H-Haseul?”

“Oh...Sooyoung. I didn’t expect to meet you here like this…” Haseul said, her voice darkened, but tinged with genuine surprise.

“I-I...didn’t expect to see you either...this...is a bit awkward.” Sooyoung scratched behind her head. 

“So...what are you doing here?” Haseul asked, leaning forward on her knee.

“I get lonely,” Sooyoung lied.

A sultry chuckle. “I’m more surprised you have the money for it.”

Sooyoung didn’t know whether to take this as a compliment or not. “I have my ways. But I need to find something in here first.”

Haseul’s eyebrows raised. “Oh?”

With the axe behind her back, Sooyoung could see the golden trail was snaking behind Haseul’s chair and in the closed closet behind it.

_ The demon’s hiding in there. I know it,  _ Chuu said.

As Sooyoung tried to go behind Haseul, she placed a hand on her chest. “Now, wait a minute...aren’t you going to...have some fun with me, first?”

The human blushed a deep red. “U-um…”

_ Say no. Get the weapon, Youngie. _

“Yea, of course...r-right…”

Haseul smirked. “Well, since...back at the party, you were so attached to that  _ imp _ , now we can get to know each other  _ much  _ better…”

“Haha, yeah…” Sooyoung paused. “Wait, imp?”

_ Wait, what? _

Haseul started laughing, lips pressed together, but the laugh was getting louder, echoing on the walls, even though the room hadn’t produced any before. She closed her eyes and blood red horns grew from her forehead and curled under like a ram’s. A whiplike tail with a spade-shaped tip snaked around in the air, and a pair of big, black, feathered wings emerged from her back. When Haseul opened her eyes, they were red.

_ S-S-Sooyoung...that’s...she’s a succubus. _

The demon donned a pair of golden gloves and reached back towards the closet, which opened on its own. A baton flew into Haseul’s hand and she flicked her wrist.

It was a golden whip.

“Do you like whips and chains, honey?” Haseul cooed.

She cracked the whip towards Sooyoung, and it coiled around her body, restricting her arms and legs. She struggled against it, but  it only got tighter.

“Uuurghgh...Chuu, you idiot! You said the demon was in the closet!”

“I’m sorry, Youngie!” Chuu yelled from within Sooyoung, “I didn’t know she was one! Wait...how  _ didn’t _ I know she was one?”

“Silly little imp,” the succubus drawled, “I’ve got better disguise magic than you can detect. And plus...I’m a pretty good actress. ‘Oooh, I don’t think it’s working, Jungeunnie~ Sooyoung, what’s going on~’”

“So...you’re gonna try and kill us, huh? Is that it?” Sooyoung grunted, feeling her body weaken.

“No, of course not. I can tell you’ve got a good heart, under all of that denial. But if you’re trying to save the world from...whatever these new demons are...then you really should think twice. You two have no idea how to use that axe you’ve got there. You’ll be dead in three seconds flat.”

“On the c-contrary...I think it’s  _ you  _ who doesn’t know how to use that weapon.”

Sooyoung wriggled her fingers underneath the coils of the whip and pulled her arm out. Haseul’s eyes widened.

“How the hell did you do that…”

Sooyoung panted. “Because I’m part-Celestial. This is  _ my  _ battle, not yours.”

_ Hah! Gotcha! _

Haseul hummed in interest. “Well, explains why you’re still conscious. If you were full human, you’d be drooling like an idiot from staring at me for that long.”

The whip curled tighter around Sooyoung, and she groaned in pain, her muscles starting to sting.

“But you’re wrong,” Haseul said, the honey in her voice gone, “Those demons...they’re killing other demons too. We saw what it tried to do to Chuu.”

Haseul called the whip back, and Sooyoung collapsed to the floor, Chuu leaving her body and laying on her back in exhaustion. 

“You’re both not strong enough.”

The succubus sat on her heels and looked Sooyoung in the eye, her eyes no longer a bright red, but a burgundy. “There are succubi across the planes, and we’re all connected, Sooyoung. And ever since that demon visited us at the party, I’ve been sensing my sisters’ energy disappearing, one by one. I  _ have _ to do this.”

Sooyoung could see Haseul’s eyes shimmer with tears.

Chuu sat up and put her hand on Haseul’s knee. “Then let us help you. Without Sooyoung, it won’t work. We can learn how to fight from you!”

The succubus laughed softly. “Learn to fight from me? I’m not much, dear.”

“Oh, come on! You’ve got anyone on a string with your succubus powers! We promise, we can fight! If we work together, we can save everybody, your sisters too!”

Haseul looked off to the side. “Ugh, dammit...you’re really going to get me emotional, aren’t you?”

She picked the whip back off of the ground.

“Alright. We have one more weapon to find, don’t we?”

Sooyoung and Chuu nodded.

“Well then, if you’re ready...I think I’ll take my shift off early.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, now we're being re-introduced to Haseul, who joins our team!
> 
> ya'll probably didn't think she was going to be anything other than a minor character, didn't you ;)
> 
> next chapter, though, is going to have someone entirely new! so anticipate~
> 
> also, comment what u think of this comment or this fic, and smash that kudos button!
> 
> oh, and i've made a playlist for this story! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSLEZv1Tnt9CIjzT6il2zuQIr-MLa93hC


	9. IX

Realizing that it was late, the three ended up deciding to meet up in the afternoon the next day outside of the alleyway. They walked the entire day, the golden path leading them to the outskirts of the city, through green fields that seemed to go on for ages, only interrupted by the occasional family farm, fenced off pastures of cows and horses grazing carefree. Chuu ran ahead giggling with glee, coming right up to the fence and waving to the animals. One horse, a young stallion with an all black coat, trotted up to Chuu, bowing his head so she could pet his mane. Haseul and Sooyoung leaned against the fence beside her, watching.

“He can see you?” Sooyoung asked.

Chuu nodded. “Besides you, humans can’t see imps, but animals can. Isn’t he cute?”

Sooyoung looked at the horse, his eyes shimmering with interest. He snorted and shook his head, looking directly at her. 

“Aren’t you gonna pet him?” Chuu asked.

“I dunno...I’ve never really done this before…”

“You’re telling me you’ve never touched a horse as a child? Not even a pony?” Haseul mused.

“Sorry, I’ve always lived in the city…” Sooyoung said, taking some offense.

Chuu blinked, then took Sooyoung’s wrist. “Here, lemme show you~”

Sooyoung was about to interject, but Chuu was already placing the human’s hand on top of the horse’s head, gently stroking. It was incredibly soft to the touch, and Sooyoung chuckled, looking over at Chuu as she started doing it herself. Chuu was grinning.

“We should probably get moving,” Haseul interrupted, a wry smirk on her face.

Sooyoung looked back west, the sky beginning to turn orange and purple. The golden path ran into a nearby forested area, surrounded by pine trees.

“Where exactly are we going to stay once it gets dark? We’re kind of in the middle of nowhere.”

“Well, little miss city girl...we could use this opportunity and we could give you your first time camping~” Haseul cooed, met with choruses of “CAMPING! CAMPING!” by Chuu.

Sooyoung huffed. “Alright then.”

They all walked to the edge of the forest, where the trees were more sparse. They set up camp under an old oak tree, Haseul went off for about a half an hour and returned with some old branches, forming a small pile near the base of the tree. Haseul sat criss-cross on the ground, snapping her fingers, causing a tiny flame to appear between her fingertips, once she touched the bundle of sticks, the campfire was finished. 

Sooyoung looked on in amazement. “Impressive.”

Haseul chuckled. “After being alive for 2,100 years and living alongside humans for some of that, you learn some things.”

Once the sun set and stars appeared in the sky, Chuu leaned against Sooyoung, her head in the crook of Sooyoung’s neck. Sooyoung blushed, but didn’t resist, and instead relaxed against the oak tree, soon hearing soft snores from the imp, her arms around the human.

“You two have gotten close, haven’t you?” Haseul commented, smirking.

“Y-yeah...she’s been basically by my side 24/7 for a couple weeks now, I think. To be fair, a lot of it was her pestering me, but…”

Sooyoung looked at the sleeping girl’s face. “She’s actually nice to have around.”

Haseul’s smile started to fade. “You shouldn’t be so happy.”

“What do you mean?”

“She’s an imp. You enjoying her company that much is going to get her in trouble with her supervisor, at best. At worst…”

Sooyoung squinted in suspicion. “At worst...what?”

“Isn’t it obvious? She’s fallen in love with you. And I think you like her a lot too.”

“I…”

“Well, don’t you?”

Sooyoung scratched the back of her head. “I don’t...know. She’s really sweet, y’know? But if I  _ do  _ like her...who knows if I’ll even do anything about it. And even if I did, who knows if I’d date her for that long. I mean, I still do like Kahei, my TA…”

“Sooyoung, I should tell you something about demons and humans.” Haseul leaned in close. “We don’t exist to make humans happy. We only exist for ourselves, and humans are a means to an end. Imps exist to attach themselves to humans and torment them for their mortal lives, Succubi...we feed off of humans’ sexual energy. All of the clients I’ve gotten I never think about again...except for one.”

“Oh?” Sooyoung cocked her head.

“It was a girl. Really pretty redhead, probably a little bit older than you. I was working at a brothel and she came in secret because of...curiosity, maybe? And she wasn’t like the men I’d gotten. She was really sweet. And she kept coming back. Soon we did more than just...well, you know. We started talking about each other. About our hopes and dreams.”

Sooyoung listened sympathetically as Haseul continued.

“And one day, she stopped coming back. I didn’t find out until...thirty years later that she had a husband she loved. As it all turns out, she never really loved me. Because of my powers, she was drawn to me. It wasn’t  _ real _ love.”

“What are you saying then?” Sooyoung asked.

“Look, I’m only doing this for you so that whatever has those weapons doesn’t hurt any of my sisters. I don’t overstep my boundaries with humans anymore, I don’t make friends with them, I don’t fall for them, because a human and a demon just aren’t meant to be together. Especially not one who’s got Celestial blood.”

Sooyoung looked at the fire. “You’re probably right...but...I don’t know. There’s something that’s...different, ever since that night the demon attacked her.”

Haseul laid down on the grass by the fire. “Well, what you do isn’t my decision to make. Just keep what I said in mind.”

* * *

 

Sooyoung opened her eyes and she was in an unfamiliar place. It was a room, very dimly lit, with a hard, stony floor. She was barefoot and she was wearing a long, white robe, the thin fabric hanging off of her left shoulder. She stood, trying to gain her bearings, when all of the sudden, a light flashed, blinding her.

It took a few moments before she could open her eyes, just a small amount, trying to make out a shape in the light, very far away from her. It seemed human-shaped, but it also had several appendages emerging from behind its back. As the light faded and increased around the shape, she could see they were multiple pairs of wings.

And, for some reason, she was drawn to it. 

She walked slowly, closer and closer, and the figure started growing larger in size.

It outstretched its hands and there was a deep, echoing voice.

_ “Hello, my dear Yves.” _

The loud crying of a multitude of songbirds shook Sooyoung, and she was back in the forest again. It was morning.

Sooyoung sat still for a few moments, the memory of her dream still shaking her to her core. Chuu was standing in front of the fire, stomping it out, and Haseul had the whip, looking up towards the sky.

“Is there a hawk around?” Chuu asked.

A light tremor began underneath them, and Sooyoung shot to her feet when she felt something run past her.

A buck was galloping away, followed closely by multiple does on both sides of the tree. The birds fussed louder. Haseul looked down at the crack in the ground and noticed it was glowing incredibly brightly. 

“It’s not a hawk.”

The tremors increased, followed by a loud cracking of wood and an immense howl.

Haseul’s eyes widened. “Chuu, get your axe right now.”

“Why, what’s—”

The trees parted, and a gigantic black wolf burst into the clearing, easily ten feet tall at the shoulder. It had a pair of long horns sticking straight out under its ears and another pair of curved ram’s horns underneath those. It had two golden tusks, and its eyes glowed a sinister red, staring directly at the demons.

“Wh-what the hell is that?” Sooyoung yelled.

Haseul cracked her whip. “A hellhound. And it doesn’t look happy. But I’ve never seen one with tusks before.”

Chuu looked down and saw the golden path was leading directly to the beast. “Haseul, those aren’t tusks. It’s the celestial weapons. It’s got it in its mouth!”

“Well, looks like he’s going to be getting an extraction today.”

Haseul flapped her wings and rose into the air, narrowly dodging the hellhound swinging its head at her, trying to stab her with one of the twin blades. She whipped the creature in its eye, causing it to whine in pain, pawing at its face.

“Chuu, now!”

Chuu ran at the hellhound, raising her axe and hacking into its side, barely making a dent into its tough hide. It roared, lifting a gigantic paw and swiping at Chuu. She attempted to jump out of the way, but her tiny wings were not enough to get her off the ground. She cried out, falling to the ground.

Sooyoung ran towards her. “Chuu! Chuu, are you okay?”

Haseul whipped the other eye, trying to distract it. “Sooyoung, stay back, you’re gonna get hurt!”

Chuu looked up with tears in her eyes, dark red blood seeping from her arm.

Sooyoung felt a familiar energy grow within her, her hands starting to glow. She pointed them at the hellhound, ready to strike.

_ “This is not the time, Yves.” _

Sooyoung paused, lowering her hands, her head aching from the echo of a familiar yet unfamiliar voice in her head. Suddenly, a rush of warmth flowed through her, feeling as if she was floating, pushing her towards the beast. The beast stood still, watching Sooyoung walk towards it, growling, shaking its head. She was now mere inches from it. Haseul and Chuu froze with astoundment.

Sooyoung placed her palm on the hellhound’s forehead, and it growled, but in her mind, she heard another voice, this time a young girl’s.

_ “S-Stop! I’m not gonna give you the swords! I n-need to do this on my own!” _

Sooyoung’s thoughts spoke to the voice, the words suddenly coming to her.  _ “You’re scared, but you can’t be hurting others.” _

A tear dripped from the hellhound’s eye.  _ “But I’m weak...I...my family left me here because I couldn’t fight like they could…” _

_ “Those weapons mean a lot more than just proving yourself. We need them so we can keep humans and other demons safe.” _

_ “But…” _

_ “There’s no shame in needing help from other people. Just come with us. We’ll help you be strong.” _

The hellhound stepped back from Sooyoung’s hand, shrinking in size and changing shape until it was in the form of a teenage girl with dark, black hair. She had wolf ears and a tail, and she retained her two pairs of horns. From the knee down, she had wolf paws and claws. The celestial blades, which had been wrapped in the protective gloves, had shrunken down to a more reasonable size.

“I-I’m...I’m sorry…”

She ran up to Sooyoung and gave her a hug, crying in her arms.

“It’s okay. What’s your name?”

“O-Olivia. Olivia Hye.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whew! that was quite the chapter! now we have all three weapons, now here's where the real action starts!  
> and also more mysteries to be solved...  
> comment and kudos as always!


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